Connecticut Gov. Malloy blasts KKK at Milford appearance (photos)

Neal McNamara

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Photo: New Haven Register

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Milford Mayor Benjamin G. Blake, left, with Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy, behind blake, second from left, and Chief Keith L. Mello, third from left at Milford City Hall Wednesday July 10, 2013 for a press conference to denounce the distribution of "Neighborhood Watch" fliers from the white supremacist group United Klans of America. With signs are Gary Witte of the Woodmont United Church of Christ, second from right, and Rev. Adam Eckhart of the First United Church of Christ, far right. Peter Hvizdak/New Haven Register less

Milford Mayor Benjamin G. Blake, left, with Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy, behind blake, second from left, and Chief Keith L. Mello, third from left at Milford City Hall Wednesday July 10, 2013 for a ... more

Photo: New Haven Register

Connecticut Gov. Malloy blasts KKK at Milford appearance (photos)

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

MILFORD >> Members of the Ku Klux Klan-affiliated group who threw leaflets on lawns across several neighborhoods on the north side of the city Monday and Tuesday may face criminal charges for their actions.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy attended an anti-Klan rally held Wednesday at City Hall where Police Chief Keith Mello said people who did the leafleting could face charges for littering and posting unwanted advertisements. Mello said the department has assigned a detective to investigate.

Malloy said he decided to go public with a denouncement of the UKA even though doing so might give the group more publicity. Ultimately, he said, a response was necessary due to the media attention, and his office received calls about the leafleting.

On Monday morning, some residents awoke to find plastic sandwich bags containing white rocks and a flyer advertising the formation of a neighborhood watch group by the United Klans of America.

The leaflets advertised an Alabama phone number, which Mello said police have called to try to reach members of the group.

"If you get fliers, give us a call," Mello urged residents. He said 42 leaflets were passed out Monday, and another seven were found Tuesday morning near the West Haven line. He said it appeared the packets were thrown from a vehicle.

Lawlor said his office would "work closely" with police and if the people who distributed the leaflets are found to be breaking the law, they would be "prosecuted vigorously by (the state's attorney's) office."

"We obviously take issue with their modus operendi," said Frank Lyons, who stood with his wife, Lynn, holding a sign that read, "Hatred doesn't belong in Milford."

"We're here to protest their encroachment into Milford."

The United Klans of America takes its name from a now-defunct iteration of the Ku Klux Klan that was active between the 1950s and early 1980s. That group was responsible for violent terrorist acts, including bombings and murders.

However, in an interview on Tuesday, Bradley Jenkins, who identified himself as the imperial wizard of the UKA, appeared to distance himself from the violence and racism of other Klan groups.

"We're what the Klan is supposed to be about," he said. Jenkins insinuated his group might help out where "stretched" law enforcement agencies can't -- such as forming neighborhood watch groups -- and expressed concern for problems including terrorism and drug addiction.

But, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, still considers the new version of the UKA a hate group. The SPLC said the new UKA surfaced about one year ago, but has not yet committed any criminal acts of hate.

Mello said the UKA's leafleting was the second similar incident in the city this year. In May, he said, a group called Free America Rally leafleted a Devon neighborhood.

That group is affiliated with the white supremacist movement. According to its website, the group is "an effort by a socially diverse collection of our people to stem the demographic transformation of our country."

Blake closed the rally with the motto of the Milford Respect Team, which is affiliated with the Milford Promise group.